


The Right Decision?

by Palefire73



Series: Prisoners. The Chronicles of Loki and Erika [2]
Category: Loki - Fandom, Norse Gods - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Reality, Loki - Freeform, Love, Multi, Romance, happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 06:50:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10939215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palefire73/pseuds/Palefire73
Summary: Loki is eager to start to show Erika around their new home, but was it a mistake on her part to come here?





	The Right Decision?

The depth of the design of the environment for the alternate reality into which Erika had voluntarily gone was almost perfect. After their initial reunion, which had left both of them overwhelmed with emotion, Loki had picked up her bag and they had gone into the house for a cup of tea and a piece of shortbread. As she had entered the beautiful building, she was reminded of the large farmhouse her grandparents used to own before it was destroyed by invading Rock Dwellers and Stone Giants and a feeling of nostalgia began to steal over her. Inside, the house was partly open-plan with about half the ground floor taken up by a large kitchen-dining room which included an area where there was a big comfortable sofa draped with furs and blankets and was – as if that wasn’t cosy enough – home to several plump cushions. It was big enough to accommodate two or three people easily and Erika imagined curling up on there in the evenings to snuggle up to Loki and read by the fire, drinking warmed mead or the Midgardian beverage called hot chocolate. The beautifully crafted piece of furniture was against a wall that lay at right angles to the back of the house where the stove and fire were situated. The huge fireplace was very much like the Midgardian design called an Ingle Nook and the heat it gave off during the winter months was enough to keep most of the house nice and warm and was so large that nearly all of the preparation of hot foods could be done there. There was a wood store at one end of the Ingle Nook – a reasonable distance from the fire of course – and at the other end there was room enough even for a rocking chair. To Erika’s absolute delight there was a black Asgardian Shorthair cat curled up on a cushion on this chair and it eyed her up with its green eyes as she arrived.

 

The ceilings were quite low but still allowed enough head height for the very tall Loki, who was over eight feet in height, and they were built of exposed thick beams of aged Asgardian Oak which had been carved with all manner of designs depicting plants, animals, the harvest, protective runes and many other visual treats. Here and there in the kitchen part of the house bunches of herbs and flowers had been hung from the ceiling and were drying for use as flavourings or decorations and they all lent an air of a home that was welcoming and loved. Loki could hardly keep himself from her side and when they sat at the table, he dragged his chair round to be closer to her and sat watching her sipping at her tea – which he had made – and sampling the wonderful shortbread. Erika couldn’t keep the amused look from her face at all of this attention.

 

“Is there something amiss?” Asked Loki, his sparkling emerald eyes searching her face for signs that she was not completely happy.

“No! Of course not!” She chuckled and placed her cup on its saucer, delighting in the quiet chink of the porcelain. She reached out and took Loki’s hand and brought it to her lips to kiss it lightly, smiling all the while.

“I cannot believe I am here.” She continued, “It has taken such a long time to get to this point and I am still not quite sure it is all real…”  
“It is real enough!” Interrupted Loki, and he pulled her gently to her feet and into his arms, “It is definitely real and something I have longed for.” He kissed the top of her head and buried his face in her blonde curls, inhaling their scent and savouring her presence. “It is something I intend to enjoy to the fullest and something I will treasure. Please tell me you feel the same way?”  
“Of course I do,” Murmured Erika against his chest, and she squeezed her arms tighter around him, “It is simply the end of a long and arduous journey and it will take me a little time to get used to being here.”

Loki let go of her and smiled as he pulled her hand and took her out into the back garden which was much larger than the front. It was made up of various areas of different designs; some put over to growing fruits and vegetables and some put over to flowers for decorating the house. Another large area was of a simple lawn which was kept neatly grazed by a few goats and there were various other hidden parts to this charming garden which she was yet to discover. One of these was where Loki took her now; he led her through an arch covered in a beautifully scented Asgardian Honeysuckle and on down a path winding through a few shrubs which eventually gave out into a small clearing where there was a small musical fountain and a wide swinging seat suspended beneath the surrounding trees. They went over to sit on it and Erika found herself looking up through the canopy of the trees to the blue sky above, listening to the various birds singing their lively songs.

“I love to come to sit here,” Said Loki, “Now, tell me of this ‘arduous journey’!”

 

For a mere moment Erika froze. Surely he did not mean he wanted her to recount all of the trials and tribulations they had faced back out in the real world of Asgard and the Nine which surrounded her? Just as she began to grow worried about what she should say, Loki’s next question came to her rescue and she realised that she needed to relax and trust in The Vision’s manipulation of the Trickster’s mind.

“Well? What of these merchants you travelled down from Asgard City with? What were they like? Did they have anything interesting to sell, because if they did then I would like to go to the market over in the next town to see if I should like any of it.”  
Erika almost sighed in relief, but managed to act quite nonchalant as she nodded and began to tell Loki of this imagined journey from Asgard. Just as The Vision had instructed, she kept it simple and stuck to the facts about the others, which were supported by the synthetic population that The Vision had programmed into the town Loki had mentioned. She did not pretend to understand how he had done it, but apparently there were people in this alternate reality; it was simply that they were not real. They were programmed to interact and to have lifespans and so on, but they were also programmed with a failsafe which would prevent them from doing anything which might lead to Loki’s discovery of his imprisonment and the potential for an attempt to escape. The Vision had ensured that if anything looked as though it might be going wrong, the prison would start to shut down in a manner which would render the God unconscious and he would be extracted under heavy guard to be brought back to the real Asgard for summary execution. It was the harsh bargain Erika had been forced to accept; Loki would only live as long as he was kept ignorant of the fact that this realm and all that it contained was in a reality split from where they had come by a door held closed by the Tesseract. The power of the blue cube to manipulate space as well as being a source of infinite power had meant that it could be used to be a lock which was no longer physically in the mechanism it was keeping secure. The Vision and Erik had designed the door between the two realities in a way which meant the Tesseract now existed outside of both of them and would power the lock for all time from another location.

 

As Erika recounted the tale of a horse bolting at the appearance of a snake on her travels, causing the rider to fall off and have his possessions scatter everywhere, Loki laughed in genuine mirth and her heart positively soared.

 

_He was truly happy._

 

The young maid knew now that this had been the most precious gift Thor could have given to Loki, especially if one considered all they had been through. An eternity in the dungeon of Asgard would have – indeed, had – driven Loki insane and would have achieved absolutely nothing. She had seen how the Chaotic Spirit at Loki’s core had striven to break free, even at the cost of the life of the physical form it inhabited. Loki’s outward persona had degraded so badly in his solitary confinement that it had ceased to be the dominant part of him and it had been a simple thing for the being which had been his true and original self when he inhabited the realm of Chaos to come forward and express itself. Yet Loki had been fortunate enough to have those who still cared enough to put things right; they saved him, healed him and changed him just enough to accept his current situation without question. There were few people like Loki who could claim to be so lucky. And now here he was in a wonderful place with a second chance at life.

 

“I have something to show you.” Erika was brought out of her reverie and found Loki looking at her expectantly. She smiled quickly and cocked her head to one side. He had shown her so much already, but there was bound to be much, much more to see over the coming days.

“What is it?”

“Come along and you will see!”

 

Loki’s long fingers entwined hers and they made their way back down the path to the garden, where Loki made a sharp left to go out of a side gate and into one of the lanes which wandered around the small holding. It led to a small field which was so pretty it almost took Erika’s breath away; instead of a swathe of green grass in front of her, there was a sea of colour and she realised the whole field had been left to go to seed and was now full of natural wild flowers. There were tall feathery grasses waving in the breeze and dotted around everywhere were the brightly coloured flowers of corn cockle, poppies, buttercups and fritillaries amongst many others.

 

“It is beautiful!” She said spotting even more now, with cow slips, dandelions and clover to name but a few.

“But what do you see amongst them?” Asked Loki, pointing here and there, and then she saw what he meant. Bees. There were bees and butterflies and other insects fluttering about between the gently swaying blooms, enjoying the bounty of their sweet nectar and as she watched them, she saw that a lot of the bees headed off in a particular direction once they had visited a few flowers. Peering after them and slowly walking up the side of the field, she saw that there was another field behind this one. It was much smaller and it was somewhat sheltered by higher walls and it enjoyed a sunny aspect. Spaced at regular intervals around this field were dome-shaped wooden constructions about four feet high and she quickly recognised what they were.

“Loki!” She squealed and spun round to grasp his arms in excitement, “Bee hives! We have bee hives!”

“Yes!” Laughed Loki, “We have bee hives and I have already got some honey comb in the cold larder at home. I was wondering if you might consider making some cakes?”

 

_Home_

 

He had said home… _their_ home

 

Feeling the doubt about being here being stripped away layer by layer, Erika nodded happily at Loki, but could not prevent the lump in her throat and did not manage to stop the tears of happiness which trickled from her eyes as she agreed to make him some honey cakes… in their home.

“Erika?” His voice… that velvet voice which had once been so cruel, but was now only holding love and concern for her… “Is something amiss? What have I said?”

“No… no, you have not said anything wrong!” Erika sniffed noisily and wiped her face on the handkerchief Loki summoned and held out to her… _he still had his Seidr?..._ “I will make you some cakes. Of course I will!” She reached up and stroked Loki’s face as he continued to look at her in confusion, “Oh by the Gods, Loki. I love you so much!”

 

And not for the first – or the last – time that day, the two of them embraced each other and shared a deeply loving kiss and the young Asgardian knew something right in the centre of her heart. _Everything would be alright._ Life here _was_ possible and it would be a good one with all of the pressures and temptations of the outside world gone. She and Loki had every chance at leading a long and happy life here, no matter where it truly was.

 

This _was_ the right decision.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've gone for a series and I hope it will work well like this. There may be the odd instalment which is mature and won't be accessible by younger audiences, but it will mean that most of them can still be read by anyone. It also means Loki and Erika's story can be read in nice little chunks... or binged LOL!!!  
> Thanks for reading and feel free to drop me a comment if you like :)
> 
> Palefire73  
> x


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